[Hello.]
“Ju, Juni! I’m in Sanhari Village right now—come get me! It’s on the way to Gangneung…!”
[Why should I?]
“Huh?”
[……Ha. Do you even know who you’re calling?]
“Who else would I be calling? It’s you, Juni! You said you’d listen to me. H-hurry up and come! H-hiik!”
Right then, something brushed swiftly past my feet. I dropped my phone and scrambled up onto the pavilion.
“W-what was that? Ah, my phone!”
I crawled back on all fours. Thankfully the call hadn’t disconnected—the screen was still lit. Just as I reached for it, a message popped up in the center of the screen: [The screen brightness is being adjusted due to low battery.]
“H-hello? Juni! J-Jun!”
[What?]
“When are you coming? I—I’m almost out of battery.”
[You said not to come.]
“I take it back. I take that back. You’ll come, right? Huh?”
There was no reply. I was about to press him—Why aren’t you answering?—when the screen went dark. Just like that screen, darkness slowly began to swallow the area around me.
How was it that there wasn’t a single light at the village entrance…? Even the houses behind me had no lights on. I huddled into a corner of the pavilion, pulled my knees up, and buried my face in them.
“Sniff… ngh… heartless bastard.”
Then, from somewhere far away, I heard the hoot of an owl. It was exactly like the sound effects from Legend of the Village (a Korean horror TV series known for its eerie atmosphere). Somewhere in that forest drowned in darkness, something might be staring at me.
I considered just leaving the village, but when I looked back at the path I’d come from, it was already too dim to see clearly. If I didn’t want to end up dead in the middle of the road, it seemed better to stick close to this place and head out to the main road when morning came. At least here I could avoid the rain if it started pouring.
Rustle, rustle.
Creak, creak.
The sounds coming from all directions pressed in on me. Every time I lifted my head to look around, the darkness felt thicker, more suffocating.
“Let’s just sleep. When I wake up, it’ll be morning.”
With nothing to use as a pillow, I grabbed a random wooden container nearby and rested my head on it. Of all days, I’d slept like a log on the bus, so now I couldn’t fall asleep. This was insane. I was scared, freezing, and wide awake. Was I going to end up back in the hospital like this?
“……Jerk. Would it kill him to just come? Like he’s my slave or something. What kind of slave doesn’t listen?”
Sniff. I felt miserable. Even if our relationship was nothing more than a single message string, I hadn’t expected him to be this cold. Just yesterday, he’d carefully escorted some other guy to his car like he was precious cargo. And me? Tossed aside like worn-out trash…
“Mom….”
The moment I thought of her, tears started spilling out. It was the first time I’d cried thinking about my mother since I left the army.
A bleak wind slipped through the gap in my collar. Sleeping in a place so open on all sides meant I’d be drenched in morning dew. Naturally, my gaze drifted back toward the village hall.
I climbed down from the pavilion and walked toward it. I gave the locked front door a tentative shake, but it only rattled stubbornly in place.
I thought about ramming into it, but if the glass shattered, that’d be worse. I circled the building, testing each window with faint hope that maybe one would be open. I pressed against the dust-coated glass one by one—but every single one was locked tight.
“They say country folks leave their gates open—so why are these locked up like Fort Knox?”
Just as I was about to give up, I spotted a door toward the back. I tried it carefully. Behind the village hall, there seemed to be a storage area and an old row of earthenware jars.
This is creepy….
Another gust of cold wind blew, and I pulled my collar tighter. Right now, the cold scared me more than anything else. Every step I took crushed heaps of dry leaves underfoot with a loud crunch. It really looked like no one had come through here in a long time—leaves were piled thick even around the jars.
Following the wall, I finally found the back door of the village hall. Staring at the tightly shut gray metal door, I slowly grasped the handle and turned it.
Please open. Please.
Click. Creak—.
It screeched loudly, probably rusted from age. Inside was still pitch-black. The first room I stepped into looked like a kitchen. In the countryside, people often build large kitchens since many villagers gather to eat together. It resembled a restaurant kitchen.
Even after finding shelter, I hesitated. Looking at the massive refrigerator, a vague thought crept in—What if there’s a corpse inside…?
Shff—.
“Ugh?!! What was that?”
Something brushed past behind me again. Without hesitation, I rushed inside and slammed the door shut. I tried locking it, but the handle just spun uselessly—it was broken. Giving up, I moved further in.
If it’s a wild animal, it won’t be able to open the door, right?
Beyond the kitchen was a large room—the one I’d glimpsed earlier through the window. When I went to the main entrance, it was obvious why it wouldn’t open. The two metal handles were bound together with a chain.
“What’s the point of chaining this if the back door’s open…?”
Outside, the wind made my ears ring. Inside, the silence was so heavy it felt deafening. Dust had piled thickly across the floor, so I kept my shoes on. I found a corner and, feeling awkward just sitting directly on the ground, I tore down a calendar and laid it out. From January to December, I spread the pages out in a long strip—it made a decent spot to lie down.
But the floor was littered with dead insects. As I started to lie down, a large dead spider right in front of my face made me jerk upright.
“Ugh… ugh… what the hell, a spider. Geez.”
I hated bugs. But staying inside came with its own problems. In the end, I just leaned against the wall and stretched my legs out. I was grateful at least to have a wall at my back in the corner.
What kind of miserable suffering was this? If I’d just gone to that seminar, I’d be sleeping warmly in a room right now. I should’ve just played along as Kim Du-seon and come back…
I closed my eyes, hoping to get even a little sleep. Please let the sun rise soon. I wanted out of here as fast as possible.
***
Rattle, rattle.
“……?”
How long had I slept? The window rattled under the fierce wind.
When I opened my eyes briefly, it was still far from morning. It must’ve been late at night—the wind had grown stronger. I pulled my knees up again and buried my face in them, like I had at the pavilion.
Rattle, rattle, thud! Thud!
……Thud?
That wasn’t the wind. No matter how strong it blew, it wouldn’t make a striking sound like that. I lifted my head and looked around. I checked the nearby windows—there were no branches hitting them.
Thud.
After a while—another thud.
My head slowly turned toward the kitchen. The sound seemed to be coming from there. Thud, thud—it began again at steady intervals.
When I thought carefully about what it resembled, it sounded like someone chopping with a knife on a cutting board. The moment that realization hit me, my body went rigid, and it felt like all the blood drained from me.
I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it sounded threatening. I scanned the room for an escape route. The front door was chained shut, and I definitely didn’t want to go toward the kitchen where the sound was coming from.
Thud. Thud.
The more frequent the sound became, the faster my heart pounded. The thought of someone with a knife suddenly bursting out overwhelmed me with terror. Cold sweat broke out across my body. Stay calm, I told myself, taking slow breaths. My eyes darted around until I noticed moonlight spilling in from a window above.
The window! I can get out through the window!
I quietly stood and unlatched it. The chopping sound continued in the kitchen. Swallowing hard, I carefully pushed the window open. It creaked loudly.
At that moment, the thudding from the kitchen stopped.
With trembling hands, I shoved the window open wider and climbed halfway out. Thankfully, it wasn’t too high above my waist, so getting over wasn’t difficult. But my limbs were shaking so badly that I lost my balance and tumbled outside, rolling once on the ground.
“Ow, ow….”
It felt like my back had hit a rock, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that. At any second, whatever that thing was might leap out the window and pounce on me.
“H-haah, ngh.”
I scrambled up and started running. Something in my body ached and creaked, but I didn’t have the luxury of caring.
I sprinted full speed back the way I’d come. As I passed the pavilion and rounded the big tree—someone suddenly grabbed my waist hard.
“AAAAAAH!”
“Damn! You scared me.”
I was so startled my whole body shook like I was having a seizure. Then, as I slowly registered the figure wrapping their arms around me from behind, I calmed down.
“……Huh? Ju, Juni? Juni?”
“What, didn’t you want me to come all the way out here to get you?”
“……It’s really you?”
I turned around to face him. In the moonlight, his face was clearly visible. He looked more irritated than usual, a deep crease between his brows—but I was so relieved I threw my arms around him.
“Waaahhh. Juuuni—!”
Pride didn’t matter. I felt like I’d come back from the dead. I grabbed his waist, buried my face in his chest, and whined—half sobbing—about how scared I’d been, why he’d taken so long.
His hands, which had been hanging stiffly at his sides, slowly came up and wrapped around my back, patting me. Was this how it felt when I patted him? I wanted to let go of everything and lean entirely on him. It felt like he was the only one who truly recognized me.
As he patted me, relief washed over me, and I rubbed my face against his chest. But why was he wearing something so stiff? It scratched my face, so I pulled back and wiped my remaining tears with my hand. Clinging to someone five years younger and whining about being scared should’ve been embarrassing—but right now, I didn’t care. What mattered was that I was alive.
“Ha.”
Jun glanced at the tear stains on his chest and let out a short laugh. Then he reached up and plucked something off my hair—maybe a cobweb.
“Juni. Thanks for coming.”
“Let’s get to the car first.”
A little way down the road, Jun’s car was parked. It was black, so it blended completely into the darkness. No wonder I hadn’t seen it earlier when I looked out the window.
“When did you get here?”
“About ten minutes ago? I figured at least one place would have its lights on, but nothing. I was about to leave, then thought I’d smoke a cigarette first—and then you came running out.”
“What? Ngh… If you’d just left, I’d have… probably ended up a corpse….”
“Cut the crap and get in. Mr. Kim Du-seon.”
“Kim Du-seon?”
I looked at him, wondering how he knew my MLM alias. Jun pointed at my chest. There, hanging plainly, was my name tag—the necklace badge I’d received before entering the MLM lecture hall. I’d been wearing it the whole time.
Ah… I went around like this….
Now I understood why passing cars had glanced at me strangely. I ripped off the name tag and threw it onto the ground.
When I opened the passenger door and got in, a refreshing scent greeted me. I hadn’t realized how cozy his car was. Whatever air freshener he used, the forest-like fragrance was even stronger than the countryside air. My frayed nerves gradually calmed.
“You were inside that building?”
“Y-yeah! In there! There was this weird sound. Like someone chopping with a knife.”
“A person?”
“No, I don’t know. No one was there, but I heard knife sounds on a cutting board. Thud, thud….”
“Probably just the wind.”
Jun dismissed it lightly as he started the engine. Before pulling out, he stared intently at the window I’d escaped from. He began to say, “Well, there’s nothing—” but suddenly pressed the accelerator.
My body jerked back in surprise, and I looked at him. His expression had gone completely stiff. I twisted around to look behind us. “There was something, right? Right?”
Without taking his eyes off the road, he reached over with his free hand and cupped my cheek, turning my face forward.
“There was nothing. Calm down and sit still.”
Even as he told me to calm down, he drove like he was racing. Normally I’d tell him to slow down, but I couldn’t. Soon, the car passed the Sanhari Village sign and merged onto the main road.
“How did you even walk all the way in there?”
“I just… kept walking….”
“Next time, absolutely—absolutely—don’t go somewhere like that.”
He said “absolutely” twice. I was certain he’d seen something, so I asked again what it was—but he wouldn’t tell me.
